Aston Martin to build 28 ‘Goldfinger’ DB5 cars, gadgets included

Automaker collaborates with James Bond film production company on continuation run of iconic movie spy car

James Bond's Aston Martin Db5, as popularized by the 1964 film "Goldfinger," on the set of 2012's "Skyfall."Handout / Aston Martin

Aston Martin is building a “continuation run” of 28 examples of the iconic DB5 piloted by James Bond in the film Goldfinger, complete with working Q-inspired gadgets like a revolving licence plate.

The cars – built in the home of the original DB5, in Newport Pagnell, in collaboration with the company behind the James Bond films, EON Productions – will be outfitted by Oscar-winner Chris Coubould, who’s developed special effects for a total 14 Bond films.

Outside of the plates, Aston Martin hasn’t specified what other gadgets the car will feature, though it’s doubtful it will see the passenger ejection seat option or the machine guns behind the parking lights. However, the cars will not be road-legal or certifiable, so, really, anything’s possible.

While the automaker will offer the DB5s only in Silver Birch, like the original, it notes it will add some “sympathetic modifications” to make the car easier to drive than its predecessors. We’re not sure whether or not that means it will be driven by an authentic-style 282-horsepower 4.0-litre straight-six or not.

The run includes 25 examples for public sale, each costing $4.6 million, and then another three cars: one to be kept by Aston Martin, one by EON, and one to be auctioned off for charity. The customer cars will begin delivery early in 2020.

The Aston Martin DB5 made its debut in the James Bond film franchise’s third effort, 1964’s Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery; it showed up again in 1965’s Thunderball, and then in Pierce Brosnan’s GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies, of 1995 and 1997, respectively.

The car has also been featured in three Daniel Craig-era Bond films, and is liable to be one of the most iconic movie cars on the planet. In the film, it featured revolving licence plates, bumper guards that turned into ramming bars, machine guns hidden behind the front parking lights, scythes masked behind the wheel spinners, a passenger ejector seat, a rear window bullet shield, and oil slicks behind the back bumper.